RoboCop, TFX And Wargasm Studio Digital Image Design To Rise From The Ashes 1
Image: Orion Pictures / Ocean

British studio Digital Image Design (DID) appears to be rising from the dead, more than twenty years after it fell silent.

Founded in 1989 by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp, DID's first title was the flight simulator F29 Retaliator and the studio would make its name producing similar simulations, right the way up to its final game, 2002's Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker.

In fact, DID's reputation in this field saw it work closely with the Royal Air Force, British Army and Royal Navy, and its simulations were used to train actual pilots.

DID would also produce the critically acclaimed RoboCop 3 for Ocean in 1991, as well as the sci-fi titles Epic (1992) and Inferno (1994), the latter of which benefitted from a soundtrack by English gothic rock band Alien Sex Fiend.

Other notable DID titles include TFX (1993), EF2000 (1995) and the superbly-named Wargasm (1998).

DID's publisher, Ocean software, was purchased by Infogrames in 1996. The French company then moved aggressively to acquire DID, forcing Kenwright and six other key staffers to leave and establish Evolution Studios alongside Psygnosis founder Ian Hetherington.

A mass walkout of DID would soon take place, with many ending up at Rage Games, to which the DID name was ultimately sold. When Rage collapsed in 2003, several DID staffers formed Juice Games (also known as THQ Digital Studios UK).

There's no word on who is involved with this new iteration of the company, but we should find out some details soon; a tweet was posted this week which simply says, "Stay tuned. This year."